The first publication of Le trouvère in full score, and the first of Verdi’s French operas to appear in The Works of Giuseppe Verdi series.

By the time Le trouvère premiered at the Paris Opéra in 1857, Giuseppe Verdi had first-hand knowledge of the unique demands of French theater. He had adapted his earlier work I Lombardi alla prima crociata (La Scala, 1843) as Jérusalem in 1847, and in 1855 he composed Les vêpres siciliennes, especially for the Opéra. Il trovatore, set in Spain against the backdrop of civil unrest, was especially suited to Parisian tastes, which required spectacular performances with plenty of choreography. Verdi expanded the score with a four-part ballet in the third act and rewrote the ending, where he introduced a reprise of his celebrated “Miserere,” which is first heard at the start of the fourth act. By all accounts, the resulting work displayed extraordinary musical and dramatic efficacy and, after a successful premiere, Le trouvère remained in the Opéra repertory through the opening decades of the twentieth century.

There is no extant autograph manuscript for Le trouvère. This critical edition is based primarily on a manuscript full score used at the premiere and during rehearsals, preserved at the Bibliothèque de l’Opéra in Paris. Editor David Lawton’s introduction to this edition discusses the origins, rehearsals, and reception of Le trouvère, the numerous sources preserved in French, Belgian, Italian, and British archives, and performance issues including staging, vocal style, and orchestral considerations.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) was one of the most influential composers of the nineteenth century, and his operatic works are mainstays of the repertoire. The Works of Giuseppe Verdi, published by the University of Chicago Press and Casa Ricordi, will include all twenty-nine operas as well as Verdi’s sacred music, songs, chamber music, and juvenilia. David Lawton is emeritus professor of music at Stony Brook University, where he served as artistic director and principal conductor of the opera program and taught music history. For The Works of Giuseppe Verdi, he has also edited Macbeth and Il trovatore, and he is a member of the Editorial Board.